If you stuck to the diet for the full 8 weeks, and then ate normally, how would your body react to the rush of carbs? I’m going on holiday the week after I’m due to finish and I’m wondering if I’ll be able to have any treats, or if it’ll make me sick. Should I start eating a few carbs the weeks beforehand? I do want to be able to have a piece of cake or a few drinks.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, you will probably find you automatically eat less as your appetite will have reduced, but you won’t get ill unless you have a hidden wheat or gluten intolerance that suddenly becomes obvious if you start back on the bread, pasta or pastries. I know that did happen to some people, but certainly not as a general case. I went straight from fasting to a holiday, and ate relatively normally and had no issues.

Thanks for that.

Hi Mrs Honey, if you really go back to how you used to eat before, calories and full carbs included, the worst you can expect is to put all or most of your weight back on – depending on how much you manage to lose. Another thing is you might find the carbs leave you feeling bloated and a bit sick. I would suggest you enjoy your holiday but try to keep off the carbs as much as doesn’t interfere with your enjoyment.

You are going to be shocked Mrs Honey — you won’t like the old carbs/sweet stuff as much as you did before and you are going to think to yourself, “huh, that’s not so nice, and I don’t like the taste like I used to, and it kept me up at night with heart racing….and I feel unhealthy …huh, maybe I am happier staying on my beloved BSD …. Just a thought…
(You are going to change on this way of eating)

I intend to stick with the eating after 8 weeks, to a degree, I intend to start adding in this like new potatoes. Of course, well see how I feel then, my tastes may well have changed. I’m not convinced it would be healthy to carry on this way though I’ll be honest.

Potatoes were one of the first things I added back and have had no issues, but have tended to keep portions quite small. I haven’t been even tempted to go back to piling my plate with them, just use them to increase the diversity on my plate, which is still largely full of other vegetables.

Mrs Honey I guess it all depends whether you have diabetes or not. If you do have it then I’m afraid certain carbs are never going to be your friend. The odd potato may not do much harm occasionally but in general you won’t be able to eat them and control diabetes. If you don’t have diabetes then it’s a case of trial and error. Good luck whichever way and enjoy your holiday.

Hi Mrs Honey
Just been reading this thread and thought I would post – hope that is okay.
What bothers me, is the comment ‘.. and then eat normally’. Actually, it was the result of ‘eating normally’ that originally brought us all to the BSD. So if we are not to end up exactly where we were before, we need to ditch that mind set, because we very evidently were not eating normally.
There is no returning to how we ate before, if we are to maintain our reduced weight and improved health. Yes, we may get away with adding back occasional small portions of things we have avoided on the BSD, but essentially carbs in large quantities will no longer be an option, if we want to maintain our newly discovered selves.
That said, there is no harm in relaxing things a bit and enjoying your holiday. Life happens and holidaying is definitely a time to loosen up and have a few little foodie treats and the odd glass of wine.
Have a good holiday and hopefully you will return relaxed and come back to the BSD.

Mrs Honey, a lot of sense and good advice has already been spoken here and I agree with previous posts.

I have been on this WOE for 6 months now, 2 of those on maintenance having reached my goal in 2 successive rounds of BSD800. So I have relaxed my calorie / carb counting but, in all honesty, struggle to eat much in the way of refined carbs as they end up making me feel so bloated and uncomfortable, so now I don’t even see them as an occasional treat! However, I have reintroduced wine and now have a glass most days, more at weekends with no ill effect. 😜

So complete your 8 weeks, and have a good holiday. You may find that you may not actually want much in the way of carbs by then😜

To reassure you Mrs honey, I am a year on maintenance, still eating very low carb and all my cholesterol ratios are excellent — eating this way is the healthiest way — of course, because it has very few refined flours and other starchy carbs, low sugar and lots of veg/protein.
To return to old eating patterns like pasta, bread, potatoes, sweets etc. would put me right back on the yo-yo nightmare that was my previous life. It was a complete failure for me — the BSD has been a real eye opener — it is not how MUCH you eat, it is WHAT you eat. It took me a while to truly internalize that fact but now I can be friends with my body — before my body and I were in a daily pitched battle that never gave me any peace of mind.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Really, I just want to be able to have the odd ice cream on holiday, or a piece of cake. I suppose I’ll see how I feel afterwards, I may go to the 5:2.
I’m not diabetic ,or pre-diabetic, I just want to lose weight and as I’m hypothyroid it’s always been difficult. As you’ve said though, by the end of 8 weeks I might not see them as treats! Thanks.

I have had the odd ice cream on holiday (orange and mascarpone, yum) and far too many slices of cake recently 😀 but for me the trick has been to keep mindfulness front and centre, so I absolutely enjoy what I eat, and then eat healthy low carb the rest of the time. Very occasionally I get the carb addict symptoms back again, but I recognise them when they appear now, and usually a fast day will reset my system. After my birthday at the end of June I probably overdid the eating and drinking and ended up out of my maintenance weight comfort zone, if only by a pound, so I have currently embarked on a reboot week of 800 calories again, with 16:8 intermittent fasting and for the last 5 days full fasting mimicking diet with low protein as well as low carb and all plant based, I have just (almost) completed the first fasting mimicking day so 3 days in and have lost 3.8 pounds so far and exactly back to my target weight. I will almost certainly have a bit more wiggle room after I finish which is good because I am off on holiday again. Never say never, but you will have to find your own way to make it work. I certainly am still eating a lot healthier and more carefully than I used to.

So good Mnm! I think that is so right!

As I think is pretty plain from the various responses, it’s a case of different folk react in different ways – hardly surprising. I started the BSD in January and have kept to the general principles ever since – but I don’t find that the occasional lapse sees me feeling bloated, etc., as others have. I do lapse from time to time but the big, big difference is the amount of sugary things and other high carb things that I consume. Used to be that mid-morning snack was a Cappuccino and a couple of chocolate biscuits. Lunch (unless the weather was cold enough for soup and a roll) was a ham sandwich and either a cheese sandwich or cheese on Ryvita – the cheese was invariably Cheddar – and an apple. Nowadays the mid-morning snack is no more (although if feeling hungry I will have a small piece of Camembert) an lunch is a salad – oh, and porage for breakfast has been replaced by yoghurt and seeds/nuts, or occasionally a high protein breakfast – bacon, ham, egg, mushrooms (not all together!)
Overall, the diet has worked very well for me – weight down for 14-s (BMI 28 odd, forget the exact number) to 13-7 give or take a pound or two from day to day – BMI 24, and by blood sugar dropped from 75 in January to 40 this month.
So, overall, provided things are going in the right direction, don’t worry if your own experiences differ from those of others – we’re all different
Mike